Level 90 Boosts Cost $60, PvP Spectator Invite System in Warlords

In between server restarts, our friends at WoW Insider saw that the in-game store was updated to show $60 as the cost for a level 90 character boost. The servers were taken down soon after, so perhaps this feature isn't meant to be live yet. Read more about it here.

We also have a new post from Blizzard on PvP improvements in Warlords, such as Skirmishes and Spectator Mode. The Trial of the Gladiator system is also going to be scrapped.

Lore

Warlords of Draenor will introduce tons of new features and updates to improve and expand upon many aspects of World of Warcraft, including the PvP experience. We gave you a first look at some of our PvP plans BlizzCon, and as with any development process, plans can sometimes change as they—well—develop. We’d like to share a few of those changes with you today.

The Tale of Trial of the Gladiator

At BlizzCon, we unveiled plans for a new form of ranked Arena competition called the Trial of the Gladiator, a mode of play that would available during certain hours and which would require players to use a special Trial-only set of gear. The goal was to concentrate high-level competition to specific times, to better match players against competitive opponents, and to make exploitation more difficult.

While there were a lot of potential benefits to that system, ultimately we agree with some of the concerns community has raised about the way it worked. Ultimately, players who couldn’t play during the pre-set times for Trial of the Gladiator might feel like they’re missing out, and it was possible that normal Arena games would lose a lot of their replay value without rating to push for. Because of these issues, we’ve decided not to continue development of Trial of the Gladiator and to focus our efforts on giving players more ways to find PvP that suits them—so here’s what we’re doing instead:

Arena for Everyone: Skirmishes

You might recall the Skirmish feature that went alongside ranked Arena play when that feature was first introduced. It was virtually identical to ranked play, with the exception that there was no ladder or rating involved. However, Skirmishes felt very redundant at the time, and few players took advantage of them, so they were removed with the release of Cataclysm. However, as more and more players get involved in PvP, a higher demand for a form of “lower-pressure” Arena gameplay made us think it was time to revisit the Skirmish idea . . . and make a few important improvements along the way.

In Warlords of Draenor, Skirmishes will return as a form of unranked Arena play that will allow you to queue for 2v2 or 3v3 battles with friends or by yourself. Winning a Skirmish will reward you with Honor and a random bonus, which could be gold, more Honor, a small amount of Conquest Points, or possibly something entirely different. We think this will be a great way for players who haven’t tried Arenas before to get their feet wet, and will allow experienced players to experiment with alternate specs or builds without worrying about tanking their rating.

But Wait, There’s More: Spectator Invite System

While Skirmishes should provide a great opportunity for some more laid-back PvP gameplay, we also wanted to address top-end competition as well. Tournament organizers, often with the use of various third-party add-ons, have been able to piece together a “spectator mode” of sorts and run online tournaments, but they’ve been required to jump through several hoops to actually make that work. We’d like to simplify that process and put more power in the hands of add-on developers so that community-run tournaments will be easier to organize, manage, and broadcast.

Our new Spectator Invite system will allow a match organizer to invite two teams to play against each other in a PvP spectacle called a War Game. Then, when the match begins, everyone in the match organizer’s party will be able to watch those two teams duke it out. We’ll also be opening this feature up to add-on developers so they can come up with tools for tournament organizers to customize how the match is presented on the screen. Finally, we’ll be providing Tournament Mode gear—a special set of gear that can only be used in War Games—to help tournament runners ensure that all players are on equal footing.

We’re excited for these new features, and we feel they’ll allow a much broader spectrum of players to be able to find a type of PvP gameplay they enjoy. Whether you’re looking to compete against the best of the best in a tournament or just want to hang out and relax with a little bloodshed, we hope these updates provide something for the PvPer in you.

Comments

Comment by Zebba

on 2014-02-19T10:53:22-06:00

I can foresee a little bit of abuse with that spectator mode. What if someone in the Game Organizer's party is communicating with Vent or TeamSpeak with one of the competing teams and keeping them informed on the opposing team's actions?Since WoW cannot monitor external means of communication I'm not sure how they would prevent that.Of course if the team getting abused figures out that scheme, that particular game organizer's reputation and future prospects will take a hit, but I think there will be abuse anyway.

- As many other games which allows the spectate mode, there is a delay in time, to prevent this. Usually a couple of minutes.

Comment by Iceveiled

on 2014-02-19T10:58:41-06:00

$60 LOL...oh blizzard, you funny. Half that MIGHT be reasonable.

Still, I'm sure plenty of people will use this feature, some multiple times. Blizzard will be printing money as usual.

Comment by Jkpman

on 2014-02-19T11:25:25-06:00

Blizzard will be printing money as usual.

Excellent! I do hope so.What most of you don't seem to realize is that a profitable game = a constantly funded and improved game.

Even if it was financially motivated so what, it impacts nobody!(which I don't think that is the main reason, more like something the players actually want)

Comment by Glanzman

on 2014-02-19T12:13:48-06:00

Holy hell? $60 for a boost? That is the cost of a new game. I guess I won't be taking advantage of that feature when it comes out.

Well, when one can pick up an extra 8 hour (or less) shift at work, it makes it seem more worth it.

8 hours at work work or grind from 1-90... I'm guessing that, while it may be more fun for some grinding 1-90 as opposed to working, it will take a lot longer than 8 hours to do so.

Comment by SilverHyperion

on 2014-02-19T13:27:01-06:00

I can foresee a little bit of abuse with that spectator mode. What if someone in the Game Organizer's party is communicating with Vent or TeamSpeak with one of the competing teams and keeping them informed on the opposing team's actions?Since WoW cannot monitor external means of communication I'm not sure how they would prevent that.Of course if the team getting abused figures out that scheme, that particular game organizer's reputation and future prospects will take a hit, but I think there will be abuse anyway.

They could just provide a 1 minute delay or such like Riot does for theirs.

Comment by Jkpman

on 2014-02-19T13:40:35-06:00

Spectator mode is not that big a deal, They tried Arena PvP as an E-Sport and it was despised because it's as boring as watching paint dry.

Of course there will be an anti cheating system in place.

Comment by TheBigDeeb

on 2014-02-19T14:54:29-06:00

Level 90 Boosts Cost $60 TOO expansion ! IT SHULD BE 5 OR 10 euro

well i can buy Crysis 3 12$

Battlefield 4 35$

Call of Duty 22$

AND all these games not need to buy game time 30day-60..etc!isnt it enugh to keep buying game time for blizzerd?

iam done with this #$%^ i will play ps4 !

Comment by Shydow

on 2014-02-19T14:59:09-06:00

Re: $60 for a boost to level 90 -- I already pay Blizzard $15 per month to waste chunks of my free time, and $60 equates to a four-month game subscription; however, if I want a level-90 character after this service goes live, I can either (A) obsessively level an alt for a couple of weeks, or (B) work two hours of overtime, earn $60, and skip the grind. Personally, I'd much rather skip the grind and spend that couple of weeks on endgame content, but I totally understand why others wouldn't want to and would see the $60 price tag as a bit outrageous.

I won't be surprised if the price decreases, though, by the time the service is available as more than a brief "accident."

Comment by jasper4u

on 2014-02-19T15:58:13-06:00

This should be fun, how much i will wait and see

Comment by Azrile

on 2014-02-19T18:15:21-06:00

Truly I do not think the price point is high enough. Perhaps 100.00 seems more appropriate. There are a lot of peeps out there that have plenty of spare cash sitting around to bypass the work involved in leveling and LEARNING a class. If the price is too cheap you will see too many toons out there playing who are truly unskilled and lazy players. You really want the servers saturated with tanks and healers who have absolutely no clue what they are doing, simply because they opted to pay out the work involved in understanding the mechanics of these specs?

Keeping the price point high ensures that it is a serious bite to ones pocketbook and may require a player to think hard about whether or not they really want to sac the funds for such a class or role.

Just food for thought.

No food and no thought. You absolutely do NOT learn your class while leveling. Feral druid - mangle Monk - jab Almost every single class can easily level to 90 using 1 or 2 buttons. If you level your class and play it like you would at endgame, you are doing it completely wrong. Really, you want my feral druid to spend 5 combo points on a buff that lasts 45 seconds against a mob that will be dead before I get a 3rd combo point on it? You want my affliction lock to fully dot up mobs that will be dead before the 3rd dot can even be cast?

The same thing goes for healing dungeons. Even if you level through dungeons and healing, they are so easy you don´t learn anything. On my priest, I usually am in shadow spec and cast renew only.

Tanks at endgame are all about active mitigation. You don´t use any of that while leveling. You really think my bear tank is going to waste rage on damage reduction when I am at full health and my healer is dpsing?

To show you how much I don´t know about my monk. I honestly do not know the names of ANY abilities other than jab and spinning crane kick. I know there was a second ability I used, maybe blackout kick which was the ones that spent comb points, blackout kick? There were a couple others I used, but only when the training thing forced me to... an interrupt, the roll and a ranged attack ( crackling something)... but the only time I used those was up in the monestary.. never needed them while questing.

Comment by Tragus

on 2014-02-19T20:14:01-06:00

what about riding skills and flight licenses? Boost come with those? Hoofing it!

Comment by AngelicMew

on 2014-02-20T01:01:09-06:00

I hope they keep the boost price high. I leveled all my 11 chars to 85-90 and I fail to see how people who haven't played a class will be able to handle that class if it's boosted to 90. However, what worth is a lvl 90 boost if all your chars are already close to lvl 90? Can we "keep" this free boost forever? Or will it drop away after some time?That being said, if I can keep the boost I'll keep it till a new class is introduced, play till around lvl 40 to get to know the class a bit and then boost. But I'd rather have hoped they made the boost a one time thing and not released it to the shop. Probably for the people who got banned to get back into the fight quick a simple with a new account.

Comment by zanatorix

on 2014-02-20T10:38:57-06:00

That being said, if I can keep the boost I'll keep it till a new class is introduced, play till around lvl 40 to get to know the class a bit and then boost. .

Highly doubt if they introduce new classes that you'll be able to boost them right off the bat.Last i heard was that they didnt have any intention of sticking a timer on being able to use the free boost but i cant see it lasting forever.

Comment by InEngland

on 2014-02-20T11:30:27-06:00

I dont understand people raging and ranting over the price and / or the idea of a 1-90 boost service.If you don't want it, don't buy it. If anything if you're in a popular realm you should be happy since it means all you're fave questing areas will be hella lot quietier surely.$60 / £36 is alot of money for a boost, but you do get a free new boost in the expansion i believe they where saying, so you can try it out before you buy it, if you're against it or for it.

The bigger shame is the discontinuation of Trial of the Gladiator!

Comment by Jkpman

on 2014-02-20T14:23:51-06:00

I think This basically raises a hell of a lot of good points and gives a very good reason why actually $60 is cheap.

Comment by kozgrul

on 2014-02-20T17:06:08-06:00

Well 60 bugs isn't really horrible, don't be lazy, get up your as.s get freelancer job and you can have these money in 2 days at last. Btw it's some kind of protection from ppl that will want to abuse this service. TRUE player who knows how much effort you have to put in to lvl up those 90 lvl's up, know the price of his time. Time is money or everything has it's price if you want it hear like this. No matther what, if you want something, you have to pay for it. With your money, time or lifetime. Everything has it's price, remember this rule.

Comment by dekemvr

on 2014-02-20T19:32:12-06:00

Honestly,i'm somewhat happy about this.Even though i'm against the notion of buying levels,having a high price on the service would discourage excessive use of it.

Comment by shoosha

on 2014-02-21T10:12:59-06:00

FINALLY! GG BLIZZ

Comment by ElhonnaDS

on 2014-02-21T19:46:46-06:00

I don't know about other people, but I certainly learn each class as I level- I felt very out of my element when I leveled my DK, because I didn't get to level her from 1. I agree with a lot of the others- I was hesitant about the idea of them offering a level boost at all, but if they are going to implement it I think the high price point will help mitigate people abusing it, and keep the game from being flooded with instant 90's.

I was never an altaholic, and never had more than 2-3 max level toons at a time, but because of how easy they made leveling this expac I now have 8 90's. If you have one max level character, the time needed in LFG to bang out the justice for heirlooms is almost nothing. Leveling 1-85, between heirlooms and dungeon quests, goes really quickly. And even 85 to 90 isn't terribly slow. It's really easy to get an alt to 90 in a fairly short period of time. This service is a luxury item- not a mainstream part of the game. So they're charging luxury prices. With how quick it is to level alts now, I can't imagine that people NEED the boost to save time.

There's laziness tax all-over the game (though usually in gold). If you don't want to fly manually, take a flight path. If you don't want to grind out the gear to qualify for LFR, just buy it. If you don't feel like farming the materials off the AH to level your profession, go buy them on the AH. And people who want to pay it are more than entitled to it. But the expense is precisely because it IS a luxury, and there are easy alternatives to get the same result without spending anything except a little time and energy.

If this was too cheap, then it would be the only way people would level, and I feel like that would take a lot out of the game. I think the price is right- I wouldn't pay it, but then I farm all my own mats and grind out all my own gear, so wouldn't have bought it regardless.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2014-02-21T21:22:44-06:00

Excellently put El.

This is a luxury service, so it makes sense it has a luxury price. And considering how easy it is to level the old-fashioned way, there's no reason to be upset over the hefty price.

I plan on using the free 90 boost that comes with WoD, but other than that, I don't really mind this at all, as I won't make use of it anyways.